Standard Publications’ director donates Nazi memorabilia to national collection

A silver goblet, probably from the personal collection of Hermann Goering (1893-1946), has been donated to the national collection by Joseph Said, a former chairman of Heritage Malta and director of Standard Publications, the publishers of the Malta Independent.

The artefact will be permanently displayed at the World War II sections of the National War Museum at Fort St Elmo.

“It will highlight the importance given by the Axis powers, in this case by none other than Goering himself, to the Axis bombing campaign over Malta during the said war. The museum holds only a few memorabilia directly related to Axis pilots who flew over Malta and this prestigious goblet, be it in terms of craftsmanship and historical significance, adds to the ever growing collection, mainly through donations, of the National War Museum,” Heritage Malta said in a statement.

It is historically recorded that Goering owned a remarkable silver collection part of which was kept at his fabulous country estate, Carinhall. This estate was subsequently destroyed upon Goering’s orders in 1945 after he had transferred his massive art collections from the estate because of the advancing Soviet armies.

Goering was a leading member of the Nazi Party and an ace fighter pilot and veteran of World War I. He helped Adolf Hitler take power in 1933 and that same year founded the Gestapo, the secret state police. At the Nuremburg Trials he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity sentenced to death by hanging. However he escaped execution by committing suicide the night before the date set.

The goblet was awarded to the Luftwaffe bomber pilot Joachim Helbig (1915-1985), who is credited with the destruction of 182,000 gross register tons of Allied shipping accomplished in 480 flown missions. He participated in the invasions of Norway, Belgium and France and was subsequently posted to the Mediterranean where he operated bombing missions against Malta and in support of the Afrikakorps.